Pathogenesis

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Pathogenesis is the mechanism by which a certain etiological factor causes disease (pathos = disease, genesis = development). The term can also be used to describe the development of the disease, whether it is acute, chronic, recurrent etc.

Some forms of pathogenesis are:

• Inflammation
• Malignancy
• Tissue breakdown

In most diseases, there are multiple pathogenetical processes at work. For example, certain cancers arise from dysfunction of the immune system (skin tumors and lymphoma after a renal transplant – which requires immunosuppression).

Often, a potential etiology is identified by epidemiological observations before a pathological link can be drawn between the cause and the disease.

• Pathology

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